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Ike photo, is it real or is it faked?


bfryar44
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Another picture for the thread.

 

Don't know where or what date that the photo was taken but I imagine sometime in late 44 or early 45.

 

BFryar44

BAR010.jpg

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BFryar, I beleive that to be LeHarve, France in March 1945 and that to be either the 65th Infantry or 16th Armored.

 

So we are pretty much stuck with March 1945 at present.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Johan Willaert

It looks like IKE has 5 stars on his shoulders. If that is the case I doubt this was taken that early, since he was only promoted to that rank in Dec, 1944.

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It is a picture that's been altered. The "colors" don't match, his height doesn't match the distance from the troops, the troops do not look towards him, his rank is "wrong", etc, etc .....

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  • 2 months later...

Could it just be motion making the soldiers look fuzzy? At first I also thought it faked, but look at the very right edge. You see a partial profile of someone else. The lighting of/on whoever that is seems to match Ike. Strange.

post-78-1176852225.jpg

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Jeffrey Magut

I also thought this was a "photoshop" or retouch, until I saw the complete shot, courtesy of the Atlantic magazine:

 

post-121-1176856354.jpg

 

In this context it now looks less artificial. The light and shadows are strange though on the right side of the photo.

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I used to shoot print a lot of black and white film on my own and for a newspaper and I've been doctoring photos with Photoshop since 1992 and I would swear that's a composite photo: if not, then someone spent a lot of time in the darkroom blurring everyone except Ike. Camera depth of field (the range in which things are in focus) is such that something other than Ike would have to be in focus at that angle. It really looks like he was standing in front of a life-sized poster, but it is probably a composite of two photos. They well may have been taken at the same place but for whatever reason the photographer or his editors didn't like any of them and found they could come up with something better from two photos. This was not uncommon practice back in the day and still happens now and then although it is contrary to the policies of most newspapers and news magazines.

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Got da Penny

Compare Ikes "hand color" to the soldiers.. The color is not even close..

 

Its got to be a composite. even the angle Ike is at doesn't agree with the Soldiers looking at him.

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Though I am not an expert in photography, I agree that this doesn't look right. The scale between Ike and the troops appear to be different and Ike also appears to be looking at something other than the eyes of the trooper closest to him but not at the other trooper beside the first.

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If I was there, as a soldier in the 65th, I would be looking at him the whole time! I probably would have given him a hearty, "Guten Abend, Herr Ike!! Sprechen se Deutch?" LOL... I wonder how that would have went over?

 

Just one problem. I don't think that he was "there", since the soldiers don't show any sort of acknowledgement that he was present. Surely one soldier would have looked. Ike was very well known for his friendly interaction with the troops. He is "interacting" by having his hand extended, but they show no reaction. Something's a lil' fishy....

 

Chris

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Although you cannot see his feet, the way Ike is positioned suggests he was not in the original shot. The men appear to be walking up an incline, whereas Ike is standing more flat-footed. As was stated earlier, the sharpness of Ike in contrast with the men is just not right. He also looks out of scale. It would seem Ike's photo was taken when he was greeting another officer or dignitary, thus the smile and extended hand.

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  • 8 months later...

The eye levels differ. The horizon line for the soldiers is about the top of the photo. Eisenhower's eyelevel is at the horizon line.

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My primary thought was this: I know anything is possible but, I'm not sure why Eisenhower, his staff, or war correspondents would find it necessary to fake the kind of photo that was no stranger to Ike - meeting and encouraging the troops. And if the eye levels with the dogfaces are off in this pic it could be for reasons of angle, focus and depth, that Eisenhower was taller than average, or, that he isn't humping 100 lbs of crap. So the troops aren't swarming over him? - you're slogging off the boat in Who-Know's-Where-France, all you see is the rump & pack of the guy in front, and then suddenly, of all people, there's Eisenhower. Even if the surprise quickly wore off you can't stop and shoot the breeze, you need to keep moving lest your friendly sergeant add additional hell to your existence.

 

PS. Could it be that some editor had Ike enhamced at a later date?

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ArtillaryMan

I can't imagine that the soldier in the center of the pic wouldn't have his hand out to shake the General's. Ike's hand appears to be welcoming a handshake!

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Manchu Warrior
Compare Ikes "hand color" to the soldiers.. The color is not even close..

 

Its got to be a composite. even the angle Ike is at doesn't agree with the Soldiers looking at him.

Hell, a "Grunts" hands are always going to be dirtier then the Commanding Generals hands.

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